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Bakery offers 'TSA compliant' cupcakes
The Transportation Security Administration's confiscation of a passenger's cupcake has inspired another Northeast bakery to tweak its pastry offerings — and the controversial agency.
During the Christmas travel season, TSA workers at Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport confiscated Massachusetts resident Rebecca Hains' cupcake because it was in a jar, which gave the screeners pause because of a 2006 plot involving liquid bombs. TSA rules prohibit passengers from carrying liquids in containers larger than three ounces onto airplanes, and the agency said the icing from Harris's cupcake exceeded the limit.
The bakery where Harris purchased the cupcake, the Wicked Good Cupcakes bakery in Cohasset, Mass., responded to the incident by renaming the item, which had been called National Velvet on its menu, the "National (Security) Velvet."
Now another dessert shop has gotten in on the act. The Rhode Island-based Silver Spoon Bakery, an online made-for-delivery store, has begun offering TSA Complaint Cupcakes, which come with a mock boarding pass and a quart-sized Ziploc bag that meets TSA's carry-on standards.
TSA said in a post on its blog earlier last week that cupcake "icing falls under the 'gel' category" on its prohibited items list.
"Unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar," the TSA blog post said. "In general, cakes and pies are allowed in carry-on luggage, however, the officer in this case used their discretion on whether or not to allow the newfangled modern take on a cupcake per 3-1-1 guidelines. They chose not to let it go."
-This story was corrected from an earlier version on Jan. 18 at 10:00 a.m.
